I'm hoping you guys can help me max out the RAM on the GA-M720-ES3 motherboard I have.

However, while it can support up to 16GB of RAM, I'm having a hell of a time trying to find 2x4GB sticks so that I can order two batches of the set of 2x4GB RAM (for a total of 8GB RAM in a single 2x4GB set) to come up to 16GB with all four slots filled.

However, while I did see that there are 4GB RAM sticks that are supported, again, I'm having major trouble running down which one is still purchasable via whatever method, be it Amazon, Newegg, TigerDirect, Ebay... etc.

The reason I want to max out the RAM now is because it will be used as a rendering PC, and whatever else a friend wishes to use the old PC for, as he requested I max out the RAM in it prior to shipping it to him.

Bah! Such a pain in the rear trying to find the right RAM that'll work with the PC... because at the moment, it currently has 4GB RAM, and for my stress-testing and general day-to-day use, it struggles with the RAM it has to do with everything I need it to do... especially since it's paired up with a HD Radeon 5670. :/

And while it does have the AMD 5000+ BE processor, it will soon be replaced by this processor.

Incidentally, thoughts on this build? (Sidenote: Already purchased the motherboard in this PCPartPicker list... and see no need to return it unless it's DOA, of course.)

The RAM list on motherboards is a guarantee for just those modules. It does not mean the motherboard is only compatible with those modules. As long as the RAM is specced to what the motherboard is compatible with, it should be fine.

As for the build... I'd swap the thermal paste for Arctic Silver 5 and lower the power supply to 500W-550W.

The RAM list on motherboards is a guarantee for just those modules. It does not mean the motherboard is only compatible with those modules. As long as the RAM is specced to what the motherboard is compatible with, it should be fine.

As for the build... I'd swap the thermal paste for Arctic Silver 5 and lower the power supply to 500W-550W.

I know it's just a guarantee for just those modules.

My thought was, "If I can find one of those 4GB modules, I can order 2x or 4x of that single 4GB module and stick it into the PC and have 16GB of RAM right then and there."

But... even so, I'm having major trouble finding a single 4GB stick so I can purchase 4 of 'em anywhere, even ebay is unhelpful because the people there tend to just list 4GB (2x2GB) which is rage-inducing, even with the search-term modifier of 1x4GB.

Re: thermal paste - I debated long and hard on this one, and eventually decided to go with the one I'd chosen, but AS5 works well enough for the purpose... so I'll go ahead and grab that instead.

As far as the power supply goes: I'm planning on running quite a few hard drives in this PC, in addition to the existing 500GB hard drive in the PCPartPicker list. That, and I didn't really want to lose the silent part of the power supply.

And regarding the power supply... I plugged it into http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine . And assuming 100% load with 10% capacitor aging, it recommends 480W. So bump this up to about 550W-600W still. Even if you add hard drives, they only account for 10W maximum (not even that much) and your system is never going to be at 100% load so the actual power consumption on a nominal load will probably be like less than half this.

... I fail, then. I was not able to find those until you linked me them. Methinks I was being too restrictive with my search query. Still, $180 for 8GB RAM? ... Ouch, but to be expected since it's DDR2.

LatiosXT wrote:

And regarding the power supply... I plugged it into http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine . And assuming 100% load with 10% capacitor aging, it recommends 480W. So bump this up to about 550W-600W still. Even if you add hard drives, they only account for 10W maximum (not even that much) and your system is never going to be at 100% load so the actual power consumption on a nominal load will probably be like less than half this.

Also, updated the build as per suggestion, which should now come out as such.

As several people keep asking me, why so much RAM? Granted, the old PC doesn't need that much RAM... but I see no reason not to max it out, specs-wise.

Virtualization. Lots and lots of it. Plus, I tend to run so many apps on-screen, that my laptop with 8GB RAM consistently has nearly all of it used up on a fairly daily basis... and this is without virtualization... because the CPU sucks for trying that sort of thing on the laptop.

Also, I tend to run loads upon loads of remote desktop apps, either to VPSes with desktops integrated, or to people's PCs for helping them fix issues. (I consistently have at least two Teamviewer sessions going on when I'm asked to help people.)

What your going to wantneed is unbuffered (non FB) non ECC memory, you can put together 16Gb with a pair of 8Gb dual channel kits easily (2x4Gb) just make sure it's unbuffered non ECC and go from there.

Also make sure the speed spec on any memory you get matches the motherboard's requirements.

What your going to wantneed is unbuffered (non FB) non ECC memory, you can put together 16Gb with a pair of 8Gb dual channel kits easily (2x4Gb) just make sure it's unbuffered non ECC and go from there.

Also make sure the speed spec on any memory you get matches the motherboard's requirements.

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